Saturday, August 29, 2009

Please Don't Throw Us Out!

Just as I was going to toss an old pair of gray pants and turquoise dress out.....they cried out in pain and said "SAVE US!! DON'T LET US END UP IN A LANDFILL CHOKED WITH MILLIONS OF YELLOW PLASTIC SHOP RITE BAGS! BRING US BACK TO LIFE!!" I totally swear that's exactly what they said. (YOUR clothes talk too...right?). Anyway.....I took my trusty Fiskars and started cutting, pinning and sewing and came up with this nifty little tote bag. It's interfaced for stability, and fully lined. It is made from 100% old, outdated, ready-for-the-trash-bin-and-maybe-not-even-good-enough-for-Goodwill clothes. "UPCYCLING" at its best!

My love/hate relationship with my sewing machine is turning back into love. Inspired by my trip to the Etsy Labs in Brooklyn a couple months ago, I created my first bag out of an old Guinness T Shirt and some scrap fabric I found at the lab. The event was sponsored by Bags for the People, which is a non profit organization that educates consumers about the effects of plastic on the environment, providing them with bags made out of recycled materials. Read more about them here: http://www.bagsforthepeople.org/. It was definitely a fun night out creating and cursing as I broke several machine needles with my over-eagerness. I kept forgetting the idea here was NOT to be Mario Andretti at the machine pedal. LOL. But, I did end up with a pretty neat-o bag that would make even the most casual Guinness drinker jealous. And, I came away with a renewed sense of awareness for the environment and the fact that each and every one of us can make a difference.

I know....I know.....get back into the 'Chamber of Creation' (aka the garage) and start cranking out some cool new metal jewelry....

6 comments:

You are in a different chamber of creation sewing up those bags. Love the gray and turquoise especially. A couple of sisters from the art market specialize in upcycled bags, using heaps of interesting fabrics and even zippers, grommets, etc from rubbish bound items.

"Meddlesome"

The Meltdown

About Me

Dreamer? Stargazer? Quirky Aquarian? All of those! And, I am a self taught jewelry designer with a voracious desire to learn anything and everything. I have been working with metals for a year now and have not blown up the garage or burned off my eyebrows yet, so I'm heading in the right direction. I tremendously detest my dead end boring desk job and spend most of the day finding ways to distract myself by doodling/sketching, making sculptures out of anything and everything I can find, drinking and spilling lots of coffee, and making my coworkers laugh. I have a love/hate relationship with my sewing machine, I enjoy getting tattooed, I'm an eternal optimist, I love my watercolors and oil paints and wish I spent more time with them, I have an over-active imagination and consider my mind to be my own worst enemy, I have an uncanny knack to spell almost any word (how can I capitalize on THAT?!), I like making people laugh, I enjoy photography – especially taking macro shots of my metalsmithing tools and I am in a perpetual power struggle with my wild and crazy curly hair. And, last but not least..nothing makes me happier than to see and feel a piece of my soul in everything I create.